Week Commencing 18 May  .....

Sunday 24 May  I have done the week's tally after canvassing.  Of those I have canvassed to date, 64% say they are for me and the other 36% are for the assortment of Labour, Liberal or Green that standing here.

I have picked up quite a lot of casework to sort during my canvassing but that is always true.  Issues relating to speeding traffic; planning matters to pass on to district council colleagues; a house in the middle of an estate whose owner is absent and leaving it to fall down with all the problems that brings;  a growing number of requests for footpaths or cycle ways to connect the villages I represent where these is currently only a grass verge.  These are all in hand.

I reflect on the good and bad things about canvassing:

Sunday 24 May 06:00 pm  I see the Liberals in Oxford West & Abingdon  claim to be supporting the Ghurkhas.  I have got used to their sheer hypocrisy over the years but this takes the biscuit.  Cllr Janet Godden is a leading member of the Oxfordshire Liberals.  She wears a white poppy in November of each year and has never disguised her support for pacifism and her dislike of the military.  I cannot remember a Liberal politician who has supported our armed services and here they are, jumping on a band wagon just because they think it might gain them some votes on June 4th.  I wonder how many of them signed the No 10 Web Site petition for the Ghurkhas?  I know I did and a lot of my County Group did.  I wonder if Neil Fawcett's name (a liberal activist and spin doctor) was there?

While I reflect on the Liberals, I can't wait for the Daily Telegraph to publicise Evan Harris's expenses.  I have been interested to see he is the highest spending of our Oxfordshire MPs.  It is difficult to imagine him indulging in duck houses, moat clearance, expensive furniture or any of the excesses we read about daily.  The only excesses I see him  guilty of are a leaning to the political left.  So, on what did he spend all that taxpayers' dosh?  Come on Daily Telegraph - don't keep us in suspense!  

Sunday 24 May 02:00 pm  Such are the wonders of technology that I am sitting in the Black Boy Inn, Milton with a pint, while I log on and update this blog and my web site generally, via the pub's wi-fi.  Brilliant!

I have just leafleted Milton village - 84 houses - the smallest of my five villages.  I have had a reception here that mirrors all of my villages.  Walking down one lane, I hear merriment and see a cottage garden with a family barbeque in full swing.  The barbequehostenmeister is wielding a spit laden with meat;  he takes my proffered leaflet, saying with a sneer "would you like to tell us about your expenses?".  I count five, decide not to advise him on a suitable location for his meat-laden spit and tell him that my expense claims for the last four year are all on my web site. 

A little further down the lane, I meet his immediate neighbours who greet me warmly and ask me in for a Pimms. I decline as a discipline because canvassing comes to a grinding halt if you stop for a drink but I appreciate the warmth of the offer as much as I resent the earlier mindless stupidity of the connection of national politicians and local councillors.  By the time I reach the Black Boy, I could have enjoyed quite a few drinks with constituents and just the one "expenses" quip.  That is the balance around here.          

Saturday 23 May 03:30 pm  This afternoon, we canvass the outlying parts of my Division.  These are farm houses and other homes that are not within easy walking distance of anywhere.  There are a lot of them.  We start with my own road and then down the Oxford Road out of Adderbury, meeting lots of old friends and receiving overwhelming support.  Then to Milton to canvass the extended Smith family and then onto Milcombe where there are outlying properties all round the village and back to  Bloxham.  We spend some four hours on this, picking up plenty of pledges and enjoying some spring weather at last and some glorious views, not to mention visiting some very attractive properties.  I add to my casework during the afternoon and we finally return home about 8:00 pm. 

After a wash and brush up, it is off to the Bengal Spice Restaurant in Deddington for some unwinding and some good curry .....

Saturday 23 May 02:30 pm  Back home, I answer my mobile 'phone to hear a newshound asking about the County Council's publication of Members' Allowances and Expenses for 2008/09.  From past experience, I suspect he will be seeking to put words in my mouth to match the headline his newspaper has already written so give him the County Press Office 'phone number and hang up.  Rude, I know and I wish I did not have to do it but the Red Top media have their own agenda.  I don't think it is political but it is anti-establishment on the basis that knocking the establishment will help their sales and, God knows, they need it at the moment.  

Saturday 23 May 10:00  We canvass Twyford North within Adderbury village, comprising Cawley Road, Deene Close, Rochester Way and Walton Avenue - 171 houses in all.  A staggeringly good reception and lots of support for me locally, despite clear anger at the shenanigans of national politicians.  There are just a few exceptions. 

Despite these modest exceptions, the good folk of the Twyford part of Adderbury village seem to be ready to turn out for me and for Conservatism on June 4th.

We finish around 12 noon and retire to the Red Lion, Adderbury for a  small libation, modest relaxation and a de-brief at the end of our morning canvass.

Friday 22 May  06:00 pm   Tonight, we are canvassing Bloxham around Strawberry Hill.  The team canvasses: Barley Close, Brickle Lane, Colegrave Road, Gauntletts Close, Rose Bank, Strawberry Hill, Strawberry Terrace and The Ridgeway.  It is a very satisfactory evening with the pledge percentage holding very steady.  This area contains a mix of housing from large detached properties, through more modern sixties and seventies estates to council housing and Bloxham school properties.  The overall response remains very encouraging, despite the national black (sorry: "spectrally reflective") clouds!  

Friday 22 May    Back to  County Hall  for a relentless round of Council  business meetings.  During the day, I record a one-minute Manifesto sound bite for Radio Oxford.  They will be playing this next week (commencing 25 May) as a trailer for interviews with the County Group Leaders during the week and a Bill Heine Special Round Table with the Council Group Leaders on Monday 1 June at 4:00 pm.  Tune it - it could be fun!!

Thursday 21 May  11:00 am   I attend the South East Diamonds for Infrastructure and Growth Group, meeting at One Birdcage Walk, Westminster.  I represent both the South East Council Leaders and  Oxfordshire. 

Then it is on to Local Government House, Smith Square for an update from LGA officials as Chairman of the Resources Panel with responsibility for the LGA's budget and financial management.

Finally, it is on to my London Lodge meeting at Great Queen Street and a quiet and relaxed evening away from all the hassle of politics and the media.  

Wednesday 20 May  06:00 pm  Tonight gives me a break from canvassing.  I am invited to attend the CBI Annual Dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel as a guest of BMW Oxford Mini Plant.  The Prime Minister and a number of his Cabinet are in attendance.

CBI President, Martin Broughton, said that, if business was responsible for cutting the deficit, it would “divest or discontinue activities that are peripheral or ‘non-core’”, it would “focus on delivering key services that are currently mismanaged” and reform public sector pensions. He went on to say “In the government’s position, we would start educating the public to accept that it is not the government’s role to address every issue in society,” Mr Broughton asked: “How many of the 1,000 quangos,  costing £65 billion, a year do we really need?”   He made clear that,  although the government’s initial response to the financial crisis had been admirable, initiatives had run well ahead of implementation and much remained to be done. With the UK in the teeth of a major recession, he described “last month’s budget” as his “biggest concern”.  He went on: “The use of heroic growth assumptions, together with a timetable extended to 2018, amounted to a serious failure to address the deficit in a way that gives confidence to buyers of our debt”.

The government’s introduction of a new 50p income tax rate was an attempt to “divert media attention away from this failure”, Mr Broughton added, “tearing up the manifesto commitment to the country’s entrepreneurial class – the major job creators – was nothing short of economic vandalism. What’s more – the tax take is likely to be minimal.”

Here is a link to Gordon's Brown's speech if you really want to hear it.  (Press the ç button to return)

Tuesday 19 May  06:00 pm  Tonight it is canvassing in Adderbury.  We have a team of four out  and we cover Kemps Road, Margaret Road, Rawlins Close, The Crescent, The Rise, Twyford Avenue and Twyford Grove.  The response is staggeringly good.  I know our Conservative pledges will be up as a percentage after tonight.  Many comment on the shambles at Westminster but they have sympathy for us as local politicians and I think many understand there is no gravy train in local government.

We enjoy a drink at The Red Lion after canvassing.  I stay for a bite of supper and find this is another pub with wi-fi so I tap away quietly in a corner.... 

Tuesday 19 May  02:30 pm  I turn on the television in my office in County Hall to see the Commons when Speaker Martin announces his impending resignation.  I open the fridge and take out a bottle of fizz and pour myself a glass in celebration.  Much more is needed to sort out the mess our MPs have created but this is a start.  I probably need to say that the television, the fridge and the fizz are all paid for by me and not by the County Council.  I do drink it out of a County Council glass but I wash it up myself! 

I wonder who we will have to replace "Gorbals Mick" !!

Tuesday 19 May  08:00 am  It is an early start with a Business Breakfast jointly sponsored by the City and County Councils at Unipart.  Around 60 businesses are present to hear a series of presentations on the economy, on sustainable business practices and on Transform Oxford.  From there to County Hall for a round of business meetings with officers and members and to clear the growing mountain of e-mails and post.

Monday 18 May  06:00 pm  After a day's work at County Hall where there is still plenty to do, it is off to Bloxham to canvass around Cumberford.  Our team covers Brookside Way, Cherrys Close, Colesbourne Road, Cumberford, Cumberford Close, Cumberford Hill, Hyde Grove, Ludford Gardens, Maltings Court, Orchard Grove and Quarry Close.

Plenty of people are out but we receive a very good response from many who are in.  Many are very angry as the MPs' expenses saga rolls on but a lot understand local government is very different and have sympathy.

My Green opponent lives in Quarry Close so we leave her alone when canvassing there.  No-one in my division seems to have seen any other candidates or any of their literature yet.  The Liberal candidate is quite elderly  now and probably finds it challenging to get round such a large Division.  The Labour candidate is an Oxford academic, living in Oxford City so is unlikely to make many trips to Bloxham!  The Green will find it hard to get round the 6,910 electors spread across five villages on her bike!

We finish just about 8:00 pm and I head off to Milcombe for the Parish Council, staying until 9:00 pm.  I check out their accounts for them as Internal Auditor and they are glad to see me and to hear that all is well.  Various other village matters are discussed and I take my leave just before 9:00 pm to go up the road to The Horse & Groom for some supper and a gossip with the Landlord, Richard Argyle.   His pub is a brilliant location because it has wi-fi so I can log in on my laptop, enter my canvass returns  and check on any urgent e-mails while I enjoy his chilli con carne.

Monday 18 May  In case you are a jaded canvasser or an MP paying back £000s you should not have claimed or a  Red Top   journalist frustrated at not having been able to put those exact words into a politician's mouth to fit the headline your newspaper's sub-editor has already written, here is a little black humour to start off the week. Sorry, it is probably politically incorrect to refer to "black" humour - perhaps "spectrally non-reflective  humour" is more PC??

These are a small selection of the e-mailed jokes I have received over the campaign period.

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Ghurkha Soldier's Memorial

Milton - a delightful village

Bloxham Division

Red Lion, Adderbury